1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a centrifugal casting mold and, more particularly, to a divided rotary mold for centrifugal casting arranged to efficiently produce annular or cylindrical articles from molten metal, such as cast iron and aluminum alloy. Articles cast by the mold according to the present invention are such that their outer surfaces are flat or uneven, and that their inner sides are flat, with their overall configurations being annular or cylindrical, so that the articles can be supplied as automobile parts or machine parts of various kinds.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional centrifugal casting molds are generally of a draft-angled integral type in most cases, and the partially divided rotary molds have been utilized as centrifugal casting molds for producing articles having complex surface configurations. However, since most of the divided-type casting molds employ a mechanical screw fastening method or a clamping method, it is very troublesome to close the molds or to open the molds in order to remove articles, and such casting procedures are low in productivity. To be concrete, it is necessary, for example, to screw a bolt into or out of a nut at each segment of the molds in every casting operation.
It is a casting mold disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 55-36425 that has solved the trouble of the bolt-nut clamping method. This divided-type mold is such designed that conical projections, which extend in a direction of the rotational center axis of the mold from both sides thereof, are supported in hollow conical sleeve bearings from both sides, that molten metal is supplied through one of the conical sleeve bearings into the mold, and that the other conical sleeve bearing is supported by a slide-spline axis so as to be movable in the axial direction and to transmit force for rotating the mold.
Even in the mold of this type, however, additional means for clamping the whole circumference of the mold from the outside is indispensable, and as the operation of such means is tedious, this type casting mold cannot be applied to a continuous casting apparatus.